Audi’s sales have slightly increased in October, but behind BWM and Mercedes figures

Even if Audi isn’t in a favourable position because of the VW scandal, sales for October revealed some positive figures, but still behind BMW and Mercedes.

Audi is facing tough times, as the emission scandal seriously affected the premium brand’s image and its sales. The premium brand lost the second spot in the luxury car market, as Audi is trailing Mercedes after 10 months with sales of 1.497 million cars. That compares with 1.531 million at Mercedes and 1.560 million units at BMW. Audi has started the fourth quarter with a slight growth in sales. In October, global deliveries increased year-on-year by 2.0 percent to around 149,200 cars. Demand for the four rings proved positive, especially in the United States, up to 16.8 percent, contrary to expectations, and several southern European markets. Since January Audi has sold 1,497,150 cars globally, leading to a 3.6 percent growth compared to one year ago. Among Audi’s large sales markets, the United States proved to be the strongest one, with reported sales up 16.8 percent to 17,700 customers last month. Audi’s cumulative sales have increased by 13.0 percent since January to 165,103 cars.

In Europe, the premium brand sold around 67,350 cars in October, 3.4 percent more than a year ago, with cumulative sales totaled around 680,000 deliveries, up 3.8 percent from a year ago. In Russia by contrast, following growth in September, October sales returned to miss 2014 levels, with a downfall of 17.9 percent to 2,155 cars. But all major automakers had negative sales figures in Russia, part of a slow economy and discontinuation of the government scrappage program, which led to a 38,5 percent market decrease in October. Negative were also the sales in China, where Audi delivered 46,763 cars last month, down 2.8 percent year-on-year. From January through October of this year, sales in China were almost on the same level as in 2014, down 0.6 percent to 461,174 units